# Women gimpier than men? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401 "2011-04-22T20:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/21 "2011-04-24T02:42:04Z")
So, do women still get the vapors? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/22 "2011-04-24T07:53:00Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > So, do women still get the vapors? The vapors? Woah now, let’s not get all hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/23 "2011-04-24T08:22:31Z")
Migraines aren’t provable? Oh, I see I’m not the first to mention that. Also, for me there’s really no soldiering on with a migraine as they screw up my vision. They also sometimes hurt and sometimes cause nausea, but I don’t really call it a migraine unless I get the vision thing, and that makes me pretty much useless. It’s also apparently measurable. I do think when I was in a very physical job that I took more time off than the men, but I also think the physical demands were harder on me, as a female. A hard day took a lot more out of me than it did the guys, and I had to work harder to stay in physical shape for the job. I could climb poles with the best of them, but if I had to do a lot of overhead work, it really wore on me (and also, being shorter, I was more likely than most of the men to have to do it on a ladder or stepladder rather than standing on solid ground). ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/24 "2011-04-24T09:03:04Z")
All I can say is that since I had a kid and do 90% of the household chores, I am more likely to call in sick then before. The household must go on, and if I am at 50% of my usual energy, I would rather postpone some of my chores at work (which hurts nobody) then live in a pigsty at home. Dirt and clutter in the place I live _really_ saps my energy. My husband calls in sick less then I do, but his priorities lie more with his job then mine do. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/25 "2011-04-24T11:02:22Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > So, do women still get the vapors? You know that’s just a euphemism for intestinal gas, right? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/26 "2011-04-25T22:06:38Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > The OP is hinting at psychosomatic illnesses or illnesses that probably have some psychosomatic element, and while there is probably some truth to it, it’s probably also much more complicated than it looks at first. Well, I was sort of implying that it could be one possible answer. I guess the question is whether or not it’s physiological or not and what variety. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/27 "2011-04-25T22:31:29Z")
Well, men aren’t encouraged to go get their privates cancer tested every year after the age of 20 or get their testicles xrayed every year after the age of 40. I for one am blackmailed by my doctor to go in every year for a battery of blood tests and a chat or he won’t refill my gout medicine. If I didn’t have high cholesterol last year, I probably don’t have it this year either. If it were up to me I would only go in the event I needed something removed, sutured or put in a cast, or some symptom that was worrying me. And I usually go home with the things worrying me unaddressed anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/28 "2011-04-26T01:16:05Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > What are the actual rates on taking time off for sickness? > > (Of course, it’s worth noting that women are in a way “ill” at least once a month.) When I was in Junior High, in the early seventies, there was a study mentioned in science class. At the time, women in the workplace was a big topic and the subject of missing work due to menstruation kept being brought up by guys (grown men commenting in print and at family gatherings - not classmates) as a reason that it was a bad idea to give women any real responsibility. The study had shown that, yes, women took more sick time off from work in general, but if you normalized it for salary and responsibility, they took off less time. That is, women with low paying, repetative jobs and no authority tended to take more sick time off, leaving the impression that it was the women, and not the jobs, that were determining the sick rate. (I haven’t kept up with studies since then. Feel free to add any updates.) Regarding migraines. I am so glad that I was one of those people who got migraines less often the older I got. It’s been years. When I first started getting them, I got little sympathy. Once vomiting was a regular feature, most folks were willing to concede that I might be feeling bad. (Although I never had fuzzy vision. You guys have my sympathy.) The other good part about vomiting was that it always seemed to happen about halfway through the headache, right at the unlocking point. Without that clue, I’d have no idea how long each event was likely to last. It could be half a day, or three. But barf = light at the end of the tunnel. ---
**Author:** ![Odaran09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Odaran09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odaran09)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/29 "2011-04-26T23:26:59Z")
Unfortunetly, this argument will never be resolved because is split accross gender lines. Women will feel one way about it and men another. I guess the one observation that I have seen was comments like: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Jenaroph > Not to say there haven’t been horrifically abusive studies out there (I take it you’re thinking of the Tuskeegee syphilis study) but in reality, there need to be MORE medical studies of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women etc., because it’s becoming more and more obvious that the default conclusions don’t apply to everybody. Prove that there is no EQUALITY between the sexes or races. I am not saying one is better than another, I am just saying that the groups listed are genetically different enough that there is no “defult” answer. So saying that men and women are equal is just not true! I see this as more of a Great Debates than a general question because without studies being done, there is no factual answer it is all subjective. Side note, of the people I know, the women tend to be the ones that hears about symptons of the “latest” disease and suddenly has it before ever going to the doctor for confirmation. They then inform everyone they know. I personally believe it’s 90% sympathy and 10% real. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/30 "2011-04-27T17:25:46Z")
Medical costs are higher for women than for men until about 50 or so. This has been extensively studied by parties with money on the line, so it can be pretty much accepted as fact. My own theory is that women suffer more from minor ailments, but men suffer more from life-threatening ones. At younger ages, most medical conditions are the former kind, but at later stages the latter type predominate. (It’s been claimed that something like 50% of a person’s lifetime medical costs are incurred in the final year of life. Maybe more.) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/31 "2011-04-27T17:46:53Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > All I can say is that since I had a kid and do 90% of the household chores, I am more likely to call in sick then before. The household must go on, and if I am at 50% of my usual energy, I would rather postpone some of my chores at work (which hurts nobody) then live in a pigsty at home. Dirt and clutter in the place I live _really_ saps my energy. For me it is the opposite. My husband isn’t going to fire me if I don’t get the laundry done, but my boss doesn’t believe anyone ever gets sick but her. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/32 "2011-04-27T18:31:56Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > My own theory is that women suffer more from minor ailments, but men suffer more from life-threatening ones. I think it much more likely that women are more likely to admit to and seek help for minor ailments, not that they get them more. Men are notorious for trying to tough things out after all. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/33 "2011-04-27T18:43:52Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Medical costs are higher for women than for men until about 50 or so. This has been extensively studied by parties with money on the line, so it can be pretty much accepted as fact. > > My own theory is that women suffer more from minor ailments, but men suffer more from life-threatening ones. At younger ages, most medical conditions are the former kind, but at later stages the latter type predominate. (It’s been claimed that something like 50% of a person’s lifetime medical costs are incurred in the final year of life. Maybe more.) Well, women are most likely to have babies before they’re 50, and even a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy can rack up some pretty impressive bills during that pregnancy. If there are any complications at all, the bills will skyrocket. I’d be interested to see some statistics on medical costs which had the pregnancy costs eliminated, if we’re going to try to determine who actually is gimpier. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/34 "2011-04-27T19:23:50Z")
Another factor to consider in the ‘who takes more sick time’ aspect: it is very common for a woman to call in sick when it’s actually a child that is sick and someone needs to stay home to care for it. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/35 "2011-04-27T21:20:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Well, women are most likely to have babies before they’re 50, and even a healthy woman with a normal pregnancy can rack up some pretty impressive bills during that pregnancy. If there are any complications at all, the bills will skyrocket. Women are most likely to have children before they’re 40. There are exceptions (& these are likely more expensive than average) but pregnancy is not a significant factor in healthcare costs for women in their late 40s or early 50s, when women’s costs are still higher than men’s. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401/36 "2011-04-27T21:26:57Z")
Here’s some data for you (albeit from 1987). [http://www.actuaries.ca/publications/1996/9617e.htm](http://www.actuaries.ca/publications/1996/9617e.htm) Figure 4 has male and female HC costs by age, with female costs with and without pregnancy. The impact of pregnancy is gone by the late 30s (this may have changed a bit over time, but not dramatically) and male costs don’t reach female costs until close to 60. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-gimpier-than-men/579401.md?page=1)